


A Different Path

by Yuletide (Zebra)



Category: Beauty and the Beast (Disney) (1991)
Genre: Gen, Yuletide, Yuletide 2009, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 01:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zebra/pseuds/Yuletide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Beast wasn't turned human again and is wasting away in misery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Different Path

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hydriotaphia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydriotaphia/gifts).



Belle climbed the stairs, carefully carrying a tray with soup. She refrained from sighing; she had done that too often in the last few days.

After Gaston had fallen to his death, after she had confessed her love for the Beast, fireworks had gone off. A wave of magic had raced all over the castle, the dreary building had turned white and welcoming, the servants had found themselves to be human again.

The spell had been lifted from everybody and everything…

Except the Beast.

He had lain there inhuman and gravely wounded.

His body was well on the way to healing now, but a morose sadness clung to him. He didn't want to see anybody, especially not his once again human servants. They understood: it was difficult to see in them what had been denied to him. Belle knew it was more than that; he also felt guilty for begrudging them their humanity.

The doors to his room loomed before her.

She knocked and waited a few moments. Nothing stirred, but she had expected that.

Balancing the tray, she opened the door and entered. Here, too, the magic had done its work; the walls were white, and the damages from his beastly temper had been repaired. Belle glanced at the picture of a blue eyed young man - he would look like that now, had the spell been lifted from him: a stranger in appearance.

She turned to the bed, where the Beast lay unmoving under the blankets.

It couldn't continue like this; he was wasting away as surely as his magical rose had wilted.

With a clang, she set the tray deftly on the nightstand next to his uneaten breakfast and sat down on the edge of the bed. There was movement then; a pitiful moan, a shifting in the corner of a blanket. Pained blue eyes locked with hers for a moment before becoming unfocused and distant. He sounded miserable.

"Why, why do you come here? You should be with the humans, not a beast like me. It would have been better to let me die that day."

She interrupted him, drew the covers back from his head down to his shoulders, a soft smile on her lips. He laid his ears back and refused to look at her.

"Oh, Beast. All of us want you to live, to be with us again.

"I told you I love you. It might have been too late to turn you back into a handsome prince, but it wasn't the handsome prince I fell in love with. I fell in love with a kind and caring man, even if he still has to work on his temper."

She leaned against him, mindful of his still healing wound. His fur was soft against her cheek.

"I fell in love with a man who accepts me as I am; a man who didn't give me flowers and pralines, but a whole library."

Sitting up, she turned his head towards her and waited till he looked at her, ears still flat, a watery sheen in his eyes.

"I love you, temper and fangs and horns included."

A little peck against one of the aforementioned horns, and she snuggled back against him to play with his mane, gone shaggy from neglect.

After a while his ears pricked up and he turned slightly into her ministrations.

* * *

Sunrise the next day saw the castle servants busy in the gardens; not that they hadn't taken care of the gardens while they had been enchanted, but today they were extra enthusiastic. In no time at all the statuary sported an extra sheen and the walks were clear from even the slightest speck of dirt. The staff waited, trying to be inconspicuous.

Finally, the garden doors opened. Lumiere came out first, talking and gesturing while he walked. Behind him, their master appeared with Belle at his side and Cogsworth trailing them. Slowly, they made their way to the breakfast table that had been set up. The kitchen had outdone itself and the table was laden with delicacies for all tastes.

It was the first day of spring and new life was blossoming all around.

☙End❧

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank voksen for giving this a once over.


End file.
